Strange Fruit II, created by Carolyn Mazloomi is 2020 is made of printed cotton cloth of her design and machine quilted.

Printed with Mazloomi's interpretation of what she describes as, "America's first protest song," this work of art will engage visitors to the MFA's exhibition Fabric of a Nation: American Quilt Stories, because it is deeply embedded in her own story of growing up in the Deep South in the Jim Crow era and coming of age during the Civil Rights Movement. NEA National Heritage Fellow Carolyn Mazloomi has created works of art in the quilt medium that explore racial and gender issues since the 1970s. Combining the graphic medium of printed cotton cloth with quilting is a new direction for this renowned African American artist, curator, and advocate. Since 1983, her work has been exhibited extensively in museums, such as The Smithsonian Renwick Gallery, the Mint Museum, Cincinnati Art Museum, New Orleans Museum of Art and Design, and the Wadsworth Athenaeum, the Indianapolis Museum of Art, Dallas Art Museum, St. Louis Art Museum, American Folk Museum of Harlem, Williams College Museum of Art, and Studio Museum of Harlem. A leader in the field of African American quilts, Mazloomi has organized over a dozen traveling exhibitions for the Women of Color Quilters Network, which she founded in 1985, and published extensively on the subject, including countless articles and nine books. Born to a family of amateur artists and musicians in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Mazloomi's curatorial and artistic work often references music, making Strange Fruit II an important example of her work, especially in the current moment of heightened recognition of racial injustice. In the words of the artist, "Quilts are a soft landing for tough conversations."

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